LA complaint - has anyone gone as far as this?

[Carrera74]

My son was inappropriately restrained in November. I have followed the school's complaint procedure and the next stage is to the Clerk of Governors at the LA. A meeting has been arranged for a week on Monday and I am not sure what to expect. The papers have come through this morning. I'm complaining as the hold was not a team teach hold; it was done by a teacher who had had no training; my son was bruised; when we first visited this school I knew my DS would possibly need restraining so asked the HT 3x what behavioural strategies were in place - he said behaviour like that didn't happen at his school (it's a BESD school!) and finally at tribunal in March 09 he told the panel that all teachers were team teach trained. My DS's relationship with the teacher who did the restrain was already breaking down. So much in fact that my son was having the particular lesson taught by another teacher 1:1. The day it happened the whole class were going crazy and my son was allowed to join the class as the teacher who did 1:1 was busy elsewhere. The class were allowed to get more and more out of control for about 40 minutes before anything was done. When I met with school after the incident the HT and deputy both agreed that the lesson should have been managed better and that they had also had concerns about how the teacher restrained pupils. I am very unhappy that even with their concern they didn't do anything about it - it has taken me to complain before they looked into it.

 

The responses to my complaint do not answer my questions that I asked. They just seem to have brushed them to one side and have told me the teacher has been dealt with and if I am not happy then to take it further - which is what I have done. I just don't know what to expect at the meeting.

 

Has anyone been through anything similiar? Is the meeting minuted? My DH is coming with me but Parent Partnership don't feel they can support me as he feels out of his depth!

[caci]

I have no experience of anything like this, but I think you must have an accuarate record of what is said.

 

If no one is availabe to take notes, can you borrow a dictaphone and record what goes on ?

[justine1]

If PP cannot attend can you take a friend or relative to help make noted so you can focus on what you need to say.Have you made note of the day of the incident and possibly what your son has said about what happened? Also the date the HT raised concern about the teacher? Any chance you took photos of the bruising this would have helped.

[Carrera74]

My husband is coming with me so I will ask him to take notes but he's not the greatest at doing that I have got all the incident forms from school and I am going to write a list of the questions that I raised that have not been answered. My son did a statement too - I asked him to do this before I went into school so we all had his point of view. At the meeting school agreed with his statement and said it was a very accurate statement. I did take photos but only thought of doing this 3 days later. The bruising is still visible though.

 

DS no longer attends this school as unfortunately his behaviour continued to deteriorate, he was further restrained and he was not participating in any lessons. His case goes to county moderation panel next month and in the meantime someone from school is coming to our house to do english and maths with him once a week. I do wonder if I am doing the right thing taking it this far but I think that if this happened out of school I wouldn't let it go I would go to the police and make an official complaint.

 

I think all I want really is an apology from the HT and the teacher involved but I am dreading coming face to face with him

[Tally]

My husband is coming with me so I will ask him to take notes but he's not the greatest at doing that

WHat about if you and your husband work out beforehand a list of questions you want answered at the meeting. You could write them all down on a piece of paper with space to write the answers, and hopefully that coukd prompt your husband to get the right things down.

[Carrera74]

WHat about if you and your husband work out beforehand a list of questions you want answered at the meeting. You could write them all down on a piece of paper with space to write the answers, and hopefully that coukd prompt your husband to get the right things down.

 

That's a great idea, thank you.

[Kazzen161]

I am not sure whether you mean that the governors of the school are hearing the complaint or the LA. If you google "complaints panel governor" you will get several sources of information, such as:

 

 

http://www.cfbt.com/lincs/docs/B02%20-%20C...y%20Parents.doc

 

A governors complaints panel meeting should be minuted by the governing body's clerk.

 

I think it is important that you think what you want to achieve from the meeting. It is unlikely that they will give you full details of what happened to the teacher, but they should be able to apologise, explain why it happened (why he was restrained, and why by an untrained teacher) and explain what steps have been taken to ensure it does not happen again.

 

Have you got copies of the school's restraint and behaviour policies?